Knitter’s Paradise

Originally published Friday, January 2, 2009

Well, the college bowl bonanza is in full swing. Wow! Most of the games have been very exciting. Only a handful of games have been blow-outs (USC beat the bejeebers out the the Nits–Fight on!) and a couple have actually gone to over-time.

My favorite so far is—SURPRISE!—the Meineke Car Care Bowl in which the mighty Mountaineers of West Virginia University, led by the always amazing Patrick White, demolished, destroyed, crushed the Tarheels of the University of North Carolina by a score of 31-30. ☺

What a game! UNC has a very good team and an incredible wide receiver named Hakeem Nicks who made several fantastic catches and was a one-man highlight reel. But Pat White, WVU’s outstanding quarterback, was even better, completing 26 of 32 passes for 322 yards and 3 touchdowns and racking up 55 yards on the ground. He ended his four spectacular years at WVU as the NCAA’s all-time leader in rushing yards for a quarterback and is the only quarterback in college football history to start in and win four bowl games. Thank you, Pat White, for four wonderful years of exciting football. BTW, that’s Pat and his father in the picture.

I should mention here that Pat White is as exemplary off the field as on it and received his degree at the December graduation. Oh, and he has a younger brother, Coley, who is also a quarterback, and who is now a student at WVU. Pat will be a tough act to follow, but Coley is a very talented prospect. Time will tell.

College football bowl season is prime knitting time. Nothing beats watching college football while knitting. Nothing. It’s this knitter’s paradise.☺

I finished my “White Gansey” and dug out a UFO, Alice Starmore’s Kinsale. Sometimes when you pick up a project that you haven’t worked on for months, it is difficult to get back into a rhythm. But I got right back into Kinsale with no problem at all. It’s like I never set it aside.

I’d like to think I could finish Kinsale by the time the last bowl game ends, but that would be wishful thinking. I completed the back quite a while ago, and when I picked Kinsale up again yesterday, I started with the increase row and managed to do all but the last two rows of the first repeat of the diamond pattern. But the sweater is knitted at the tight gauge favored by Starmore and is a slow go. I might get the back finished, but there’s no way I’d also be able to get two sleeves knitted by January 8th.☺

On January 15th, I will be starting the Foothill Road Aran as part of the 2009 Aran KAL, so I must refrain from casting on any new projects. I have some lace weight Jojoland Harmony yarn that is calling to me, but so far I have resisted. No new shawls till I finish the edging of my Orkney Pi.